Ramaphosa: Trade unionist, tycoon and now president-in-waiting

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Cyril Ramaphosa’s long and eventful career has taken him from trade union activist to multi-millionaire and now to within touching distance of the South African presidency.

After South Africa dismantled apartheid, Ramaphosa saw his hopes for the country’s top job dashed. True to his pragmatic character, he opted instead for life in business — a move that brought him spectacular wealth.

But his election on Monday as head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) brings him to the brink of realising his dream.

It puts him in line to succeed President Jacob Zuma, due to step down before elections in 2019.

It was after Ramaphosa failed to clinch the ANC nomination to succeed president Nelson Mandela in 1999 that he swapped politics for a foray into business that made him one of the wealthiest people in Africa.

The 65-year-old vice president’s emergence as ANC leader would not have been a surprise to Mandela.

Mandela once described Ramaphosa as one of the most gifted leaders of the “new generation” — the young campaigners who rose in the 1970s, filling the void left by their jailed elders.

During his business career, Ramaphosa held stakes in McDonald’s and Coca-Cola and made millions in deals that required investors to partner with non-white shareholders.

He became one of the richest men on the continent — reaching number 42 on Forbes list of Africa’s wealthiest people in 2015 with a net worth of $450 million (383 million euros).

Out of politics for a decade, Ramaphosa returned to frontline politics in 2012 when he was elected to the ANC’s number-two post.

He became deputy president of the nation in 2014, but had to tread a careful line. He had to both serve Zuma — tarred by accusations of corruption and incompetence — and also deliver occasional, cautious criticism of his political master.